Treating sheet metal by electrolysis.



UNITED STATES Parser" FFIGE.

.TOSEF MULLER, OF soHoNAU, NEARYSOHLUQKEINAU, AUSTRIA-HUNGARY.

TREATING SHEET META BY nnnepraonxsrs.

To alLwhom'z't may concern:

Be it known that I, Josnr MiiLI-En, a subject of the Emperor of'Austria,residing at Schiinau, near Schluckenau, in the Kingdom of Bohemia andEmpireof Austria-Hungary, have invented a new and useful Process ofTreating Sheet Metal and Depositing Metallic Coatings Thereon byElectrolysis, of which the follow ing is a specification.

My invention relates to a process of treating sheets or plates of metaland providing the same with metallic coatings by, electrolysis.

For coating sheets or plates by eleptrolysis they have heretofore beenground, cleaned, suspended in the baths and polished separately. Thisseparate treatment of the sheets or plates is not only troublesome and,owing t0 the interruptions continually required, takes much time, butdoes not, even if carried out with the greatest care, give uniformcoatings either on the same plate or on the several plates. This ispartly due to the fact that the plates are again and again brought incontact with the atmosphericair between each two steps of the treatment,and that they become otherwise soiled by being touched during transportor during the several steps of the treatment. For the most part thedefective uniformity of the coatings is however due to the plates beingsuspended singly in the electrolytic bath. The cause of this is that theplates are suspended by tongs or grippers which serve at the same timefor admitting the current, the current being thus admitted only atsingle points and-not therefore distributed uniformly over the wholeplate. the plates can never be placed to their whole extent exactlyparallel to the anodes by means of the tongs or grippers, and even ifthis were possible approximately, they become bent by the action of theelectric current, so that an exactly equal distance throughout betweenthem and the anode, such as is requisite for the uniformity of thecoating, is not obtainable. By my said invention I obtain the continuousworkingwithout any interruption, the several operations follow eachother immediately, and perfectly uniform coatings are deposited uponeach single plate as well as' upon the sevoral plates, these platesbeing firmly connected with each other by welding, soldering, riveting,bolting, clamping or otherwise securing their overlapping ends together,to form one continuous band of sheet metal which can be preliminarilytreated, provided with the metallic coating and subsequently treated inthe same manner as is already known for narrow metal strips and bands.

Specification of Letters Patent. Applicati bn filed April 18,1906.Serial No. 312,498.

. easilyplaced exactly parallel to the anodes.

sectional area of the plate. 'upon the plates a perfectly uniformcoating which is Moreover, j

The plates-pass through the several devices and baths in proper orderwithout interruption and almost without coming in contact with theatmospheric air. They are not at all liable to become soiled by beingtouched during the treatment. The plates connected together to form aband pass over guide rollers and have a sufiicient tension imparted tothem by the pull whereby they are carried along, to preclude the bendingof the plates by the action of the electric current. The guide rollersand thus also the plates may be more, the guide rollers serve, in themanner already known, for the admission of the current, 'so that suchadmission will take place uniformly over the whole Accordingly I producenot subjected to any detrimental action.

' By the treatment of the sheets or plates in the form of a continuousband,.as compared with the single treatment, a great saving in manuallabor is insured, and the production of plates having metallic coatingsis considerably cheapened. The labor necessary for transporting theseveral plates from one device to another is entirely dispensed with,and several workmen can moreover be dispensed with who were heretoforeneeded for attending to the several devices.

A special advantage consists in completely obviating interruptions ofthe current, together with the deleterious effects which they have uponthe baths, which interruptions have hitherto been necessary whenexchanging the several plates.

When the plates are finished they may be separated by Letters Patent,is-

The herein described process of electroplating a plurality of individualsheets or plates, which consist in temporarily connecting the edges ofsaid plates to form a continuous band and then passing theband-continuously through the electrolyte, substantially as described.

in testimony whereof I have signediny name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

, JOSEH MllLLER.

Witnesses;

W. ROBDT. Anna. PoHLMnYrm.

Further-

